All News articles – Page 5393
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MIP-TV: Delon, Belmondo sign up for TF1 drama
French broadcaster TF1 has unveiled two big-budget television mini-series, to be produced by regular producing partner GMT, which are set to star big-screen talents, Alain Delon and Jean Paul Belmondo.Delon will star as a Marseilles cop in La Trilogie De Marseilles, an adaptation of three best-selling French crime novels, Total ...
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Brockovich powers Columbia overseas
Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (CTFDI) enjoyed a powerful weekend at the international box office, topping charts in nine territories as it unleashed US megahit Erin Brockovich and continued the rollout of family smash Stuart Little.Erin Brockovich, on to which CTFDI parent Sony Pictures Entertainment was invited as a financing ...
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DiCaprio linked to Miramax sci-fi thriller
Leonardo DiCaprio's unexpected attachment to Dimension Film's Librium has allowed that sci-fi project to proceed with plans to shoot certain scenes this coming Summer in the same Bucharest Parliament building that once housed the reviled Communist tyrant Nicolae Ceausescu.According to a statement released on Monday by the Deputies Chamber board, ...
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VCL commits titles to Germany's first VoD service
Munich-based video distributor VCL Film + Medien is backing the launch of Germany's first Video-on-demand (VoD) television service.VCL has licensed 100 titles from its extensive home entertainment catalogue to Marburg-based [netCom], which begins testing of its service later this month and hopes to have a more commercially viable service delivered ...
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BAFTA mulls pre-Oscars awards outing
After one its glitziest film awards in years, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is debating moving the event to a pre-Academy Awards slot to focus worldwide attention on the ceremony as a pointer for the Oscars.Supporters of the move, said to include incoming BAFTA chairman Simon ...
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CanWest dubs new US distribution venture IDP
Canada's CanWest Entertainment has confirmed a joint venture with Samuel Goldwyn Jr. and Carl Icahn, the billionaire backer of Stratosphere Entertainment, to launch an independent distribution outfit, IDP Distribution, to be based in New York. IDP will acquire North American rights to smaller-budget films in a model similar to Lions ...
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BSkyB says Yes with Buena Vista, Warner
BSkyB could be the next major player to invest in UK video-on-demand (VoD) pioneer Yes Television. According to a report in the Sunday Telegraph the News Corp subsidiary BSkyB is preparing to take a stake in Yes, which is currently in the middle of an £800m flotation on the London ...
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Aardman, AtomFilms team for Internet premiere
UK animation house Aardman Animations is launching its latest creation, Angry Kid, exclusively on the Internet, via online distributor AtomFilms' web-site from early May.The 25 60-second episodes will be available as free Quicktime downloads from Sunday, May 7. Aardman and AtomFilms previously pacted for Web distribution of Aardman's back catalogue ...
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Schnedecker appointed to head up TCM France
Turner Broadcasting-owned classic movies channel TCM Europe has appointed Eric Schnedecker as director of its French-language service, available in France, French-speaking Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Mauritius.TCM Europe, headquartered in London, currently offers five versions of the channel in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Schnedecker will work from Turner Broadcasting's ...
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Microsoft to buy controlling stake in Titus
Microsoft Corp is buying a 60% stake in Japan's second largest cable operator Titus Communications from US cable company MediaOne Group which is merging with telco AT&T.Microsoft claimed the deal would speed up the roll-out of broadband networks in Japan. Titus already offers cable telephony and high-speed Internet access to ...
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Doroniuk exits post as Lions Gate chief
Roman Doroniuk has resigned from his post as president and chief operating officer of Lions Gate Entertainment.Doroniuk's departure is the latest to hit Lions Gate following the March 21 appointment of former Sony Pictures chief Jon Feltheimer to the position of vice chairman and CEO.Lions Gate founder Frank Giustra stepped ...
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Rosetta director to head short film jury at Cannes
Belgian director Luc Dardenne, who directed last year's Palme d'Or-winning feature Rosetta, will this year head the Cannes jury for the short film and Cinefoundation sections.Other members of the jury include directors Francesca Comencini, Claire Denis and Abderrahmane Sissako and the actress Mira Sorvino.Dardenne, who shared writing, producing and directing ...
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Downtown picks up Belgium's Molokai
UK distributor Downtown Pictures has acquired UK rights to Molokai: The Story Of Father Damien, which screened last week in London at the "United Tastes of Belgium" showcase (March 31-April 5).Downtown is planning an autumn release for the film, about a Belgian priest on the Hawaiian island Molokai, which stars ...
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TPS film channels outrank CanalSatellite
Television Par Satellite (TPS) movie channels, Cinestar 1 and Cinestar 2, are outperforming rival CanalSatellite's three CineCinema channels, according to Mediametrie's viewership survey Audicabsat.The TPS channels were France's top-rating film channels with a 5.8% share of the country's 11 million cable and satellite subscribers according to Mediametrie figures for November ...
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Eagle swoops on Buena Vista's Sidewalks
Aggressively acquisitive Italian distributor Eagle Pictures has added four pictures to its line-up, including Buena Vista Film Sales' Sidewalks Of New York, directed by Ed Burns, and is discussing multi-picture deals with US sales companies Alchemy Entertainment and Joe Singer Entertainment.The newly capitalised distributor has also added Tomorrow Film Corp's ...
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Kinovision fills out slate with Devil's Beauty
Kinovision, the start-up production arm of Spanish distributor Araba Films, has added $40m drama The Devil's Beauty to its rapidly expanding English-language production slate.Beauty, based on the novel by French writer Lauren Haloche and adapted by Enrique Urbizu, has been set up as a co-production with France's Orly Films ...
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FilmFour, Whitaker strike production pact
The UK's FilmFour has partnered with US actor Forest Whitaker and his production company Spirit Dance Entertainment to find, develop and produce projects by black and Asian film-makers.FilmFour will have first look on projects that the two companies work on together. The partners aim to work with established film-makers and ...
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Telefonica delays media subsidiary float
Juan Villalonga, president of Spanish multimedia giant Telefonica, announced at a shareholders meeting on Friday (April 7) that the company has postponed its planned flotation of audiovisual unit, Telefoncia Media, due to concerns over falling prices for media and Internet stock."Content companies around the world are undervalued and if we ...
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Alliance, TV-Loonland strike $75m children's pact
Canada's Alliance Atlantis Communications (AAC) and Germany's TV-Loonland have sealed a $75m (C$110m) children's content deal covering production, distribution, home video, merchandising, ecommerce and webcasting. As part of the deal, the German children's specialist will sub-distribute or co-produce up to nine children's and animation series with AAC's kids division into ...
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Messier keen on Canal Plus, Platco collaboration
Vivendi chairman Jean-Marie Messier would like to see a link-up between Vivendi-owned Canal Plus and News Corp's planned digital platform, Platco, according to Reuters. Messier stated Thursday, April 6, that a merger between Canal Plus and part News Corp-owned BSkyB - in which Vivendi and Canal Plus have a 24.5% ...